El gat és petit.

to be

Breakdown of El gat és petit.

• petit: small
• el gat: the cat

Questions & Answers about El gat és petit.

Why is el used here?

El is the masculine singular definite article in Catalan, equivalent to the.

It agrees with gat, which is a masculine singular noun here.

Some basic article forms are:

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular
• els = masculine plural
• les = feminine plural

So el gat means the cat.

Does gat specifically mean a male cat?

Often, yes: gat is the masculine form, and gata is the feminine form.

However, in some contexts, the masculine form can also be used more generally, especially when the cat’s sex is unknown or not important.

So:

• el gat = the male cat / the cat
• la gata = the female cat

What is és?